Dr. Hawa Abdi

About the Author

Dr. Hawa Abdi, a Somalian human rights activist, lawyer, and doctor, specializing in gynecology, founded the Doctor Hawa Abdi Foundation, which runs a hospital and school in one of the largest internally displaced persons camps in the country, offering sanctuary to nearly 90,000 people. Glamour named her “Woman of the Year” in 2010 and dubbed her and her daughters “the Saints of Somalia, equal parts Mother Teresa and Rambo.” She was featured as one of the top “Women Who Shake the World” in Newsweek in 2011, was interviewed by Tina Brown at the 2011 Women in the World Summit, and has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.